Thursday, November 14, 2024

RIP Tony Todd

 
1954 - 2024

I am sad to say that a few days ago, Tony Todd passed away at the age of 69. You may know him as the Candyman, as well as roles in the Final Destination franchise, The Rock, The Man From Earth, The Crow, as well as many other roles. But we here at Monster Crap remember him as the voice of the devil on the roller coaster in Final Destination 3.

It's A Statue.

He will be missed. 

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Monster Crap Inductee: Exorcist 2: The Heretic (1977)

Monster Crap Inductee: The Exorcist II: The Heretic
Unless The First Film Actually Is Horrible, Never Hire A Director Who Hated The First Film For A Sequel

1977

In 1973, horror had a huge box office smash with a film called the Exorcist.


Based on a book by William Peter Blatty, the film dealt with an exorcism of a young girl named Regan by a priest who was having his own crisis of faith. The book itself was based off an exorcism of a young boy and it had sold poorly originally until Blatty ended up on the Dick Cavett Show and intrigued Dick’s audience when the two talked about whether the devil existed or not. After that, the book became a huge hit, yet still Hollywood was hesitant on the idea and eventually agreed to do it, with Blatty making sure that he had a producer’s credit. Blatty also got the director he wanted on the film in William Friedkin, who had won Best Director and Best Picture for The French Connection. And despite trouble casting the film and little faith from Warner Bros., the film was considered one of the scariest films of all time and made Warner Bros. a crap ton of money.

So of course, Warner Bros. saw potentials in a franchise and greenlit a sequel. Unfortunately, the butting heads of both William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty on the first film, meant the two really wanted NOTHING to do with the sequel. So they went to John Boorman (director of films like Deliverance and Zardoz) who was sought out to direct the first film, but he turned it down because he thought the story was disgusting. They were able to get Linda Blair (who played Regan) to return for the sequel, with the specific request that she did not do any of the prosthetics as it was a pain for her to do in the first film (they used a double for when she was in the prosthetics). They tried to get Ellen Burstyn to return to play her mom, but she refused so they got Kitty Winn (who played Sharon Spencer, a friend of Regan’s mom) to return so she could be the motherly figure despite not being the actual mother. They were also able to get Max Von Sydow to return as Father Merrin, but since his character died in the first film, it could only be scenes that were supposed to be from the past. For a living priest who could perform the exorcism, they tried to get William O’Malley (who played Father Joseph Dyer) to return, but he was busy so they had to get a new actor to play a new priest named Father Phillip Lamont. They had John Voight (who had been in Midnight Cowboy) originally, but he bowed out because he had problems with the film so they eventually got legendary actor Richard Burton. As for the doctor character, they originally wanted a guy to play the role, but changed it to a woman and were able to get Louise Fletcher, who had just won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as the evil Nurse Ratchet in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

I Got Her Autograph in 2017

For the rest of the cast, they got Paul Henreid (who played Laszlo from Casablanca), Ned Beatty (who also worked with Boorman in Deliverance and was Jensen in Network), Barbara Cason (who was Mrs. Johnson in House of Dark Shadows and was just starting out a role in a TV series Carter Country as Cloris Phebus), Ken Renard (who was Yenard in True Grit (the original, not the remake)), Hank Garrett (who was Andrew McCabe in Death Wish), and James Earl Jones (who was Jack Jefferson in The Great White Hope and the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars which came out the same year as this film).

It Would Only Be Discovered By Most People That James Earl Jones Did The Voice Of Darth Vader In The Star Wars Holiday Special Because He Was Uncredited In The First Star Wars Film

We also have a Monster Crap alumni in Lorry Goldman (who would be the mayor’s aide Gene (a jab at movie critic Gene Siskel) in the 1998 terrible Godzilla movie) and George Skaff (who was Stuart Martindale in Frogs)


We have some uncredited Monster Crap alum as well with Phillip Ettington (who was uncredited as a Beachgoer in Jaws: The Revenge and was uncredited as a reporter in Jaws 3).

And with that out of the way, let’s get this crap out of the way. And yes, I’m not going to hide that this film is crap since you all know its crap to since I did a poll that this film won and it won with more than 50% of the vote and it was my most voted on poll by nearly 20 votes.

We begin with opening credits.


As the credits continue, we hear incoherent shrieks and singing….and I guess I should mention that this is the second time I am doing a movie with the great Ennio Moricone doing the music.

He Also Did Music For Orca And Considering I Liked That Music, At Least This Movie’s Soundtrack Will Be Good

We then go to an exorcism about to take place where Father Phillip Lamont goes to Latin America to exorcise a possessed woman who claims she can heal the sick.


Unfortunately this exorcism goes terribly wrong when the possessed woman escapes her bindings (aka a bunch of women just holding her (which should really be on them instead of the priest)) and she sets herself ablaze.

I Guess I Should Probably Sing “This Girl Is On Fire”

Anyway, we move on to Regan McNeil from the first Exorcist movie who is now a teenager and is practicing some dancing while a nice young man is playing on the trumpet.


Then we meet Dr. Gene Tuskin working with a deaf girl to try and help her hear.

Yeah, Hearing Aids Were Not As Easy To Use Until The 1990s.

Apparently, Regan is at some strange looking psychiatric institute and why do I say that?

Does Anyone Know A Psychiatric Institute That Looks Like This???

She has a session with Dr. Tuskin where Tuskin wants to talk about maybe some repressed memories about what happened in Washington (which Regan doesn’t remember) and Regan would rather talk about the troubles with her mother dealing with a divorce and why she is now living with her guardian Sharon Spencer. Tuskin has a machine that can put people in a state of deep hypnosis and wants to use it on Regan, but she would need to get her consent first.

Meanwhile, Father Lamont is meeting with the cardinal, who does not have good news. The cardinal wants Father Lamont to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Father Merrin. The cardinal informs Lamont that Merrin’s reputation is in jeopardy and because the church doesn’t want to hear about the devil, his writings may caused Father Merrin to be found guilty of heresy posthumously. Father Lamont sadly has suffered a crisis of faith because of what happened in Latin America, but the cardinal insists he investigate Merrin’s last exorcism.

Do It….And Don’t Get Drunk While Doing It.

Back at the psychiatric institute, Father Lamont looks on as people are doing tests and meets with Dr. Tuskin. Regan passes by and is curious about what the priest wants. She asks Liz about it and Liz doesn’t know.

By The Way, Liz Is Played By Ned Beatty’s Wife Belinda, Which Along With Deliverance Was Another Reason Ned Beatty Worked On This Film.

Lamont wants to question Regan about the exorcism as the coroner’s report and witnesses don’t really do much to explain Merrin’s death. You might also know that only two people witnesses were really in the room when Merrin died and they are Regan (who doesn’t remember much about the exorcism due to repression of her memories) and Father Karras, who won’t be much help as he got possessed and jumped to his death, falling down those legendary Georgetown stairs that are actually a historical landmark in Washington DC.

No Seriously….They Were Made A Landmark In 2015

Anyway, Tuskin doesn’t know if this is a good idea as three people died during the exorcism and the trauma of it may have been so great that Regan has repressed it and she doesn’t want her to self-punish herself from shock and guilt. She definitely couldn’t rule out suicide and as a doctor of the psychiatry kind, that would be basically malpractice if you did something like this and suicide happens because of it. Lamont is insistent as he really wants to find out about the evil that possessed Regan on that day. Regan comes in and decides that she actually wants to try the hypnotism machine after all and she is okay if the priest stays as it happens. They set up the hypnotism try for tomorrow and Father Lamont may help if he wishes to, which he agrees to.

We cut then to Regan talking to her guardian Sharon.


Regan tricked Sharon into believing she bent a spoon except she just used two spoons to make her believe she bent a spoon.


We go to the next day and Regan is hooked up to the machine.


The hypnosis begins and Tuskin wants to see how Regan remembers her room in DC as this is a duel machine that can do duel put people on the same brain wavelength, I think. I’ve done plenty of psychiatry as a patient myself and I honestly don’t understand how this works too much.


Father Lamont asks about Father Merrin and tries to have Regan remember him just before he died. She tells him that Father Merrin is praying and is in pain. Liz stops the hypnotism because while Regan doesn’t say too much afterwards, Tuskin is feeling the experience and it is not pleasant. Regan is out of the hypnosis, but because Tuskin is still having heart issues, Liz wants Regan to go back in to get her out. Lamont goes instead. Lamont is under hypnosis and he sees the possessed Regan from the past.

Although Like I Mentioned, This Is A Double Of Linda Blair Because She Refused To Do The Makeup Again.

We see Possessed Regan and Father Merrin (all new footage not in the original film). Regan in the real world begs Father Lamont to bring Tuskin back. With weird effects, it seems that Past Possessed Regan is grabbing at Tuskin’s heart as she is Father Merrin. Father Lamont is too shocked for most of this before finally snapping out of his shock and finally making the image go away. At Regan’s insistence, Lamont tells Tuskin that she will not remember any of what she just saw and both are snapped out of the hypnosis. Tuskin asks what happened and Liz tells her that her was having issues and Lamont had to get her out of the trance. I know this is all confusing to read and trust me, it is confusing writing. Bottom line is neither Regan nor Tuskin remember what they saw during the hypnosis, but Father Lamont does as he saw how Regan from the past killed Father Merrin via a Jedi like stopping of the heart trick.

Regan works with children at the institute and draws a face for a kid while Tuskin talks with Lamont. Tuskin asks if Lamont saw what he needed to see and Lamont explains that the demon that possessed Regan killed Father Merrin. Tuskin tries to explain that it all could have just been a dream and not what really happened. Liz says that Regan drew a picture of Lamont and here is what it is.


He notices flames on the drawing and tells Tuskin that the flames are getting bigger and they have to put the fire out. Tuskin tries to calm Lamont down, but he thinks there is a fire somewhere. And he is ultimately correct as there was a fire downstairs in a box of dolls. Tuskin calls the fire department and gets the fire extinguisher, but stops when she sees the drawing matches what Lamont is doing.


The fire is eventually extinguished and because both breathed in some smoke, they had to get oxygen help from portable oxygen tanks when the fire department arrives to get it out. Despite this premonition moment and moment with the hypnosis machine, Tuskin just sees it as coincidence as Lamont sees it that the demon is still inside Regan, even though if anyone watched the Exorcist, that demon transferred into Karras, who killed himself. Lamont wants to now sync with Regan so he can deal with the demon inside her and Tuskin doesn’t know if she wants to let him do this.

We then go to Regan sleeping that night when a voice calls for Regan (that voice being the demon that possessed her). In her dream, we go to Africa as people are just looking at the camera. We then see that the camera is the view of a locust.


Regan wakes up, but goes back to sleep. Back in the dream, we see a child being carried by others.


Also, they are dealing with a giant locust swarm that is coming.


The kid that the others were carrying swings around some string thing (I don’t know what it is called) and it sends the locusts away. Regan is now in a sleep walking trance and she walks outside, which is not the greatest to do while sleepwalking since she is on an upper floor of a high rise building.


Doves actually end up waking up Regan from her sleepwalking and she screams as she is on the edge and nearly falls. Sharon comes in looking for Regan and finds her outside with the doves. Sharon tells Regan that she might not be home when she gets back from school today (as Sharon needs to go back to DC to do some things Regan’s mom didn’t finish before she left) so Regan will need to let herself in.

We cut to DC on a rainy day as Sharon looks over those now historical stairs.

Oh And For Some Reason, Lamont Is There As Well

Sharon says that she is here because Regan would want her to help any way she could with Father Merrin and she believes he gave his life for Regan.

Am I Seriously Chopped Liver Here?

Sharon wonders if they will make Merrin a saint and Lamont says the world doesn’t want any more saints (which is incorrect since I counted and since 1977, there have been 25 people who have been named saints). They actually go inside the house that the McNeils used to live in and where the exorcism from the first film took place. Lamont asks if Merrin ever have a name of the demon and Sharon says no, but the demon did know who Father Merrin was. It also seemed like the demon was actually expecting Father Merrin and Sharon thinks it feared him. They then go to the room where it happened and when Lamont enters, there is a locust that isn’t really there.

Hey, I’m Just As Confused As You Are Why I’m Here

Lamont prays for the soul of Father Merrin, who died in that room. We then cut to Lamont immediately back in New York and meeting once again with Tuskin. We learn that Tuskin has 2 children of her own, but unfortunately she is divorced. It is now back to the hypnosis machine as Regan and Father Lamont are now synced into it.

I Really Need A Drink

You may think that joke was rather cruel, but it wasn’t. Just like the last movie I did with an Ennio Morricone score, the top male actor in this film also decided to get drunk during the filming of this film and this can be confirmed by Linda Blair, who said while Richard Burton started to be sober, he got progressively drunk as days went on into shooting this film. But unlike Richard Harris in Orca, I cannot explain why Richard Burton was this way and Richard Burton didn’t try to do his own stunts in hopes that one of those stunts might kill him.

However, this time it is not at the exorcism and instead it is in Africa where Father Merrin is. In Father Merrin’s own words, he is there to look at a boy has a gift of driving the locusts away, but the boy may also be the reason as to why the locusts also come. Oh and we see Max Van Sydow when he was not in old guy makeup like he was in most of The Exorcist.


Merrin watches as the boy drives away the locusts and when the boy falls, he sees that the boy is possessed.


We then hear the demon’s voice (which is the same demon as that took over Regan) and we hear the demon call himself Pazuzu. Yep…..the well known fact that Regan was possessed by Pazuzu was not even mentioned in the first film, but it was revealed in this film. And I actually looked this up to see if this was some bullshit name that someone came up with…..and Pazuzu is actually a real demon. Also, this was also in the novel that the demon possessing Regan was Pazuzu so I guess Boorman had at least read the damn book of the first one before doing this shitty sequel.

We then see Merrin exorcising Pazuzu out of the boy on the side of a cliff.

Which That Seems Unnecessarily Dangerous

And of course it is there are people working with Father Merrin on this exorcism that fall to their death.

Again….Why Are We Doing This On The Side Of A Cliff

Then we see them continuing the exorcism inside a temple as it seems even the people in this movie realize that doing an exorcism on the side of a cliff is an incredibly stupid idea. Anyway, the exorcism works and we find out the name of this child that was possessed and saved was Kokumo. In the trance, Merrin also finds out that Kokumo is still in Africa as an adult and now has powers to fight Pazuzu.

And Is Now James Earl Jones, Who Can Roar Like A Leopard To Scare Your Ass Away

So this whole scene was kind of a pain in the ass to do as the locusts used in this film were imported from England and they rapidly died during filming (of the 2500 locusts that were imported, 100 would die every day). But that wasn’t all the problems that this film caused because I should mention that while filming these scenes in the California deserts (they never filmed in Africa), director John Boorman developed a respiratory fungal infection known as San Joaquin Valley Fever, which was serious enough to keep his ass out action for a freaking month and caused production to be cancelled for that month.

But the problems did not end after they got out of the California desert as the original film editor quit this film and had to be replaced while it was going on. Both Louise Fletcher (who played Tuskin) and Kitty Winn (who played Sharon) suffered gall bladder infections. Now I know I have heard of cursed film productions, but this is definitely one of them and considering the result of all of this, I don’t know if anyone had fun making this film. Now that I think of it, the headache of this film could be why Richard Burton decided to start opening up the bottle and drinking his way through this film.

But I need to get back to this movie (which by the way, I’m not even an hour into this mess yet). The session ends with both of them out of the trance and both Lamont and Regan (who wasn’t supposed to remember anything) realize they were in Africa. Lamont tells Tuskin after Regan leaves that he may need to head to Africa and find Kokumo, as he might be able to help him beat Pazuzu.

Meanwhile, Regan is talking to a young autistic girl….and wait a minute.

That’s Dana Plato

Regan has a conversation with the little girl (whose name is Sandra) and tells her she got possessed by a demon. She also talks to her mother who is shocked that she is talking now and of course this makes the mother very happy. Because yes, a very bad form of autism (I should know…I was at that stage when I was 3 and still sometimes have trouble with remembering words) can take away your ability to have the ability to speak and sometimes you need speech therapy to eventually get you to the point where you can carry on a normal conversation (if that even happens).

Oh….Mrs. Phalor Is More Than Happy To Hear Her Daughter Talk

Tuskin and Lamont come in and hear what happened. They are both shocked by this development. Regan is hopeful that she can start helping some of the other kids to with their issues and Tuskin says that while that was great what she did, please don’t try that again as it may make things work with other kids. After Regan leaves with Sharon, Lamont tells Tuskin he believes the demon Pazuzu was behind this and they need to get the demon out. Tuskin storms off and tells Lamont to stay away from Regan.

Lamont goes to a museum and somehow runs into Regan there. They have a conversation and they see what looks like the temple where Father Merrin fought Pazuzu. Lamont finds out that this temple is in Ethiopia and decides he needs to go there. He goes to the Vatican to tell the cardinal about his need to head to Africa because if he can find Kokumo, he can prove the exorcisms were valid and he might be able to beat Pazuzu, who believes is still in Regan. The cardinal is not pleased that Lamont is doing more than merely investigating the exorcisms. The cardinal tells him that he is off the investigation and to not have anything more to do with this case. He will also go on retreat to calm down.

After Father Lamont leaves, we see Regan looking once again from her high rise building that she resides in. We then see that Lamont is in Ethiopia and is climbing the cliff with others and goes to the temple. He receives what looks like communion. Back in New York, Tuskin comes by looking for Regan and Sharon says she is on the roof. Tuskin goes to the roof and Regan says she wished the doctor would help Father Lamont by allowing her to use the hypnosis machine to synch with the priest. We see that Regan has been missing appointments with Tuskin because she is upset that she is not allowed to be with the priest. Tuskin says she cant because she has to do what she believes is best for the patient.

Back in Ethiopia, Lamont asks if anyone remembers Father Merrin and a guide says that the abbot might remember. He takes him to the abbot.

HEY ABBOT…. (He Might Hate Me For Doing That)

Oh Come On, You Know I Had To Do That Robin Hood: Men In Tights Joke

The abbot says he knew Father Merrin as a holy man. He also knew the boy that he brought to the exorcism and that a monk fell to his death because of a “devil wind”.

I Swear If Somehow The Happening Was Caused By This Devil Wind, I Will Be Very Cross.

Anyway, they never found the monk’s body. So Lamont decides to go down the cliff and show him where the body is (since he saw what happened in his vision). We go back to New York and Regan is doing her dance number.

No I Will Not Be Doing Another Mel Brookes Joke (This Time In The Blazing Saddles Film)….Although I Really Want To.

We go back to Ethiopia and he shows where the body is, which was wedged between rocks.

Damn….It Really Got Wedged In There

They now think Lamont is a devil worshipper and chase him away while rocks, which Regan can somehow feel all the way in New York. Regan goes into a fit and has to be taken to Tuskin, who drugs her so she can go to sleep. Lamont tries to find where Kokumo is at a convent, but they have no clue. A plane comes by with a cross this convent ordered and the pilot of that plane is named Edwards.

Hi, Ned Beatty

Edwards in fact knows what city Lamont is looking for and offers to take him there, which Lamont accepts. During the plane ride, they see planes spraying DDT in hopes of getting rid of the locusts that have been plaguing the area. While Lamont is searching for Kokumo at the village, Regan is resting in bed at the institute and later takes out the IV keeping her drugged. Some of the villagers think Lamont is looking for hooker and take him to one. And I will not show you the supposed hooker, but I will say she is nice looking and Father Lamont (being a priest) declines.  

Regan and Lamont are in sync somehow and she leads him to Kokumo. Kokumo is of course wearing a locust outfit.

Don't Tell Me How Stupid I Look?

Kokumo is told of the situation and yet believes Lamont has lost his faith which was why he had Pazuzu’s help to locate him. Kokumo tells him to prove it by coming to him, which involves walking through a floor of nails.


He then spits out a small apple.

What Is The Point In This? No Idea…

He steps on the nail, which obviously hurts and it looks like he is about to fall into the nails when they suddenly turn into a regular floor. He is now in a different room and Kokumo looks a bit different now.

Huh? Well, That Was All Pointless!

Anyway, Kokumo tells him all that stuff with the town was just the heat getting to him. Lamont tells him once again about Father Merrin and we see now that Kokumo has become a scientist who is researching locusts. It is basically a case where they are trying to breed the harmful side of locusts out of the species.

Lamont goes back to New York as Regan leaves the hospital on her own, without authorization. Tuskin is bathing her two kids when she gets a call that Regan has left. Sharon then gets a phone call that Regan has run away and it is at this moment Lamont rings the doorbell. Sharon is not happy with Lamont as she thinks he is causing all these issues with Regan and tells the priest to leave them alone. Lamont then finds Regan….at the museum.

Makes Sense To Me…(Not Really, But I Just Want To Get This Over With)

She asks if Kokumo told him how to fight Pazuzu and Lamont says that Kokumo told him that good and evil are fighting inside of her. She brought the hypnosis machine that she seems to have stolen so they can sync together while Tuskin goes to find Regan herself. Regan and Lamont go to a seedy apartment to do the hypnosis syncing. They do the syncing and we see possessed Regan from the past telling Father Merrin that he is dying. We then go back to Africa in the visions where we see Kokumo as a child once again chasing the locusts away.

We hear from Merrin that Lamont must take his place in dealing with exorcisms and taking care of Regan. The alarm sounds and they both wake out of the hypnosis. They leave the seedy apartment room and go to a train station although Lamont seems to be in a trance. Regan sees an issue and goes to the telephone to call Tuskin for help. We find out that Lamont is going to DC and the house where the first film took place. Tuskin tells her not to go with him, but Regan says she has to because it is her fault they are in this mess. Regan hangs up and goes with Lamont to DC. Tuskin decides that she is also going to DC as well and Sharon is coming with her.

In the train, Regan tries to wake Lamont out of a trance and the conductor thinks she is trying to steal from him. When he is thinking of taking her away, Father Lamont says the conductor should leave her alone as she belongs to him. Tuskin and Sharon are stopped at a car crash as someone needs a doctor and Tuskin (being a doctor) goes to help. On the train, Lamont talks about the demon getting nearer and we see Tuskin and Sharon on a plane, hoping to beat them to DC.

They both get to DC around the same time and while Lamont and Regan are easily able to get on a bus, Tuskin and Sharon have problems with getting a cab because of assholes. The bus obviously gets there first as the priest and the teen take the stairs. Lamont enters the house with Regan not far behind. Lamont enters Regan’s old room and locusts swarm out of it.

Oh Boy….Someone’s Gotta Call The Exterminator.

Not That Kind!!!!

The cab loses control and crashes through the gate.

Alright….Pazuzu, I’m Gonna Need You To Hand Over Your License Because You Obviously Are Suspended From Driving

Sharon gets out while the cab driver is dead. Tuskin asks for Sharon’s help to get her out, but Sharon makes Tuskin say that she needs to help Regan fight Pazuzu. Lamont falls down from the locust swarm and is able to point Regan to her room. Regan enters the room and sees her possessed younger self.


Tuskin is eventually able to get out of the cab, but for some reason, Sharon will not allow her to enter the house. Inside, Lamont restrains Regan and is about to give her to the possessed younger Regan (who we will now just call Pazuzu), but Lamont is stopped when Regan tells him to remember Father Merrin. Pazuzu tries to tell Lamont that Pazuzu’s Regan is the only Regan and Lamont starts making out with Pazuzu.

I Would Thank God It Isn’t An Alter Boy, But Since Regan Is Still Meant To Be A Teenager….I Don’t Think This Is Any Better.

Pazuzu tells Lamont to kill Regan as Sharon gets possessed and sets herself on fire.


Lamont attacks Regan, but Kokumo speaks through Regan to remind Lamont about the good locust. That doesn’t work so she says “Por Que” which reminds him of the woman he could not save from the beginning and that breaks him out of this trance. He attacks Pazuzu as Tuskin checks on Sharon. Meanwhile, a locust is coming.


But that locust and other locusts break a window in an attempt to attack Lamont. The house starts breaking apart as Pazuzu tries to fly away, but Lamont keeps her to the ground. Lamont rips Pazuzu’s heart out.

Confused Yet…..Because I Sure As Shit Am

Pazuzu falls over dead and Regan does the same thing a young Kokumo did to chase away the locusts, which banishes the actual Pazuzu as well.


Both Lamont and Regan come out of the destroyed house as Tuskin is holding the dying Sharon. Lamont performs the Last Rites on Sharon and she dies. Regan is sad that her guardian has now died as Lamont and Tuskin go over to her. Tuskin apologizes and says she understands now, but the world won’t. Tuskin tells the two to go and tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave as the police arrive and neighbors arrive, wondering what happened. And with the awesome music by Ennio Morricone, we go to credits and end this movie.

So how did this film do, you may ask? Well, the 1970s were a different time and when I say that, I mean….most movies don’t come out everywhere at once so to be a movie that makes money for weeks and weeks, you need to have good word of mouth so while Exorcist II did make over two times its budget with a $30.7 million box office against a $14 million budget, it didn’t even come close to the $112.3 million box office the first film made (and that’s before you get into re-releases) so definitely not what Warner Bros. wanted. It was hated by critics and both Blatty and Friedkin. It was also not well liked by even the people behind it as Linda Blair called it an embarrassment and John Boorman also thought he didn’t make a good film. But eventually, there was an Exorcist III (although it wasn’t originally meant to be called that) directed by the original author of the Exorcist book William Peter Blatty, which is good (despite only having a 59% Rotten Tomatoes rating) and made 4 times its budget. The series would then do a prequel that was such a mess that two different versions of that prequel were released and then Universal paid a crap ton of money for the Exorcist rights so they could make Exorcist: Believer…..which bombed a lot.

Everyone had their big breaks already or they were coming except for Dana Plato, who a year after this movie came out, would get the role of Kimberly Drummond on Diff’rent Strokes, but after that…had trouble finding work, getting into trouble, and her most notable roles after Diff’rent Strokes were Bikini Beach Race, Desperation Boulevard, and a video game that was highlighted when the government went after video games….

The Sega CD Game Known As Night Trap

Oh and Richard Paul (while decently known by those in the industry) also got his biggest role in 1996 with The People vs. Larry Flynt where he played the real life asshole known as Reverend Jerry Falwell.

Fuck Jerry Falwell

Now we sadly have to talk about the people who are since no longer with us. Richard Burton’s (who played Father Lamont) drinking sadly didn’t get any better as his health was failing him (he had bursitis, arthritis, cirrhosis of the liver, dermatitis, kidney disease, and was developing a limp) and in 1984, he died from a intracerebral hemorrhage at the age of 58. Barbara Cason (who played Mrs. Phalor) died in 1990 at the age of 61 from a heart attack. Paul Henreid (who played The Cardinal) died in 1992 at the age of 84 from pneumonia. Ken Renard (who played the Abbot) passed away in 1993 at the age of 77. George Skaff (who also had an unnamed minor role) died in 1995 at the age of 65. Richard Paul (who was a man on the plane Tuskin and Sharon flew to get to DC) died in 1998 at the age of 58 from cancer. Raven Grey Eagle (who played an uncredited role as a Native) passed away in 1998 at the age of 70. Dana Plato (who had the uncredited role of Sandra Phalor) never got over her drug abuse problems and in 1999, she killed herself via a drug overdose. Robert Lussier (who had an unmentioned minor role) left this mortal coil in 2019 at the age of 84. Max Von Sydow (who played Father Merrin) left this mortal coil in 2020 (before COVID lockdown began) at the age of 90. Ennio Morricone (the film’s composer) had a fall in 2020 that causes injuries to his femur and he died from those injuries at the age of 91. Ned Beatty (who played Edwards) passed away in 2022 at the age of 83 from natural causes. Louise Fletcher (who played Dr. Gene Tuskin) passed away in 2022 at the age of 88 from natural causes. James Earl Jones (who played the older Kokumo) left this mortal coil more than a month ago in 2024 at the age of 93.

Now time for my thoughts and the only good thing I can say about this movie is it’s soundtrack thanks to Mr. Morricone. All of the good actors in this film could not save what was just a mess, as the story for the most part made no freaking sense and it wasn’t at all scary. You may have been at times confused as to what was going on reading this should know I was just as confused explaining it to you and sometimes had to go to other people to explain to me what happened. I remember watching this after watching the original Exorcist on Monstervision back in the day and I feel asleep through this film (which was really sad as I missed the next film Exorcist III, which was also part of that marathon). John Boorman was definitely the wrong director for this film and its why I have always said to NEVER hire a director for a sequel who didn’t like the original film if the original film was good on its own.

Now for the next induction which would have gone to the winner of the March Madness pool done in March and what do you know, I won it so I get to pick the film. Originally, I was going to pick a film I wanted to feature and maybe enjoy as I induct it, but I decided to actually throw you the readers all a bone and pick a film that has been on my Monster Crap Induction polls for quite a while and I was getting complaints about it never winning so here you go. My next Monster Crap induction will be 2006’s Night Of The Living Dead 3D.

Don’t Tell Me I Don’t Do Anything For You Guys And Gals.